Funk walked in front of us, and Lorraine was walking next to me, Abby was still knocked out cold, she barely had a pulse, if any, and I carried her on my shoulder, I alternated between shoulders. Hours had passed already and nothing exciting had happened.

Lorraine looked at me, “How exactly did you meet Funk?”

I chuckled, “He was about to get eaten by a snake, he took us to his village, where he sold us for money, and we got tortured.”

Lorraine nodded, “Why is he with us again?”

I tried to shrug, “He is a friend, and he knows a lot about this world, I think we are going to need him, even if he can be pessimistic, other times, he is quite optimistic.”

Lorraine laughed, “I guess I am right, he is a mixed bag of emotions, he whispers a lot to himself.”

“Oh, he does?”

Lorraine nodded, “Things like, I can do this, and I need them, or, for Rachel.”

Funk called out, “We are not going to reach Moonhelm today, we should set up camp.”

It did not take long for camp to be set up with a nice fire, I had put Abby in her tent, that way she could rest, Lorraine looked into the tent, “How is she doing?”

“I don’t know, she seems to be dead, but she isn't, I think, her breathing has stopped mostly, she has a no pulse at times, maybe she is knocked out by using too much power?”

Lorraine nodded, “It could be, it is called power backlash, I have never seen such a severe case though, she will be fine soon, I am sure of it, I know she means a lot to you.”

I crawled out of the tent and sat down, Lorraine looked around, “The land is quite barren in these rocky lands, but I can get us some rabbit, if you like?”

I rubbed her hand, “I would love some rabbit.”

She tilted her head and gave me a warm smile that highlighted her sharp fangs, to be honest, if I kiss her, Her sharp fangs do not bother me.

She ran away to get those rabbits, Funk warmed up his hands near the fire, “What is your plan, Steve?”

“Huh?”

“With Lorraine? What is your plan?”

“I am not sure yet, but she makes me feel, less cynic.”

Funk chuckled, “That is oddly specific, you do seem to have taken a liking to her, like a lot.”

“Yeah, I am just, I don’t know, I am hooked on her or something, give me a moment.”

Funk nodded, as I walked away, I made sure to be out of range, I fell down on my knees and started breathing heavily, My head started pounding, images flashed through my mind. Images of Haley, but not the good kind, I felt something snap in my brain, Then I started coughing, and weird mechanical juice came out of me, It hurt a lot.

I felt a strange breeze come over me and I heard someone talking, I looked at the ground, not at the person who started talking. “What is going on?”

Another voice spoke up, a woman, “I am not certain, this is not supposed to happen.”

I coughed a few times, “Who are you people?”

One of them chuckled, the woman, “We are just keeping an eye on you.”

The other person spoke up, a man, “I think he broke it, as long as he stays on course, it is not a problem, if he goes off course, we will plant a new one and wipe his memories again.”

The woman spoke up, “We should wipe his memory of us.”

The man made a sound as if he were thinking, “No, let my brother live with the fear of us coming back, He just needs to keep his mouth shut about us to certain people, he understands that, that is why he is staring at the ground.”

I nodded, “I understand, I am keeping my mouth shut, but what do you mean, my brother?” I felt a breeze and shortly after that, silence, when I looked around me, there was no one.

After I felt a bit better, I got up and looked around me, there truly was nothing. Who were those people? What is up with the weird mechanical juice, it tasted like metal. I broke it? What is it? The better question is, where did they come from?

I shook my head and made my way back to camp, Lorraine already sat there, warming up my rabbit, “Oh, thanks darling.”

She smiled at me, “Is there a problem?”

“No, I just needed to, you know, relief myself.”

Funk chuckled, “Are you trying to be modest for your lady?”

“As a matter of fact, I am.” I sat down next to Lorraine, She handed me the stick with the rabbit on it, “Funk, please tell me something about yourself.”

He sighed, “Fine. Where should I start?”

“How about, you tell me your age?”

Funk nodded, “I am 99 years old.”

I coughed a few times, “What!?”

Funk laughed, “I am not kidding, Insectines have a life expectancy of around 300 years.”

Lorraine nodded, “That is true, I am almost 56 years old, our race can grow as old as 200 years.”

I sighed, “I have no clue what I am, but when I find that out, I will get back to you on that.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Funk nodded, “I have had a pretty simple life, just a lot of farming, and recently, I got into fighting due to some incidents, I was about to get married to a woman named Rachel.”

I looked at Lorraine, then back at Funk, “We heard you say that name before.”

Funk nodded, “I killed her by a sudden burst of rage that overcame me.”

I scratched my head, “Oh, that is too bad.”

Funk nodded, “It was right before I came to save you and Abby.”

Funk took a considerable bite of his rabbit. “I am not sure where this journey will take me, I just need to go with the flow, and I am sure I will get where I need to be. All I know so far, is that you are important, Steve, I think it is my job to protect you, and I see you as a good friend. Even if you have a lot of darkness in your heart.”

Lorraine looked at me, “Darkness? You mean the killing?”

Funk sighed, “No, there is something burrowed much deeper, am I right, Steve? Your rage?”

“Yes, my rage is an issue.”

Lorraine took my hand, “It is alright, you can be honest with me, If your rage takes control over you, I won’t run away scared.”

“Thanks, Lorraine.”

Funk yawned, “I am tired, I am going to sleep.”

I nodded, “We too, right, Lorraine?”

She nodded, “Yes, I am tired too.” We went into our tent, it did not take me long to fall into a deep slumber.

The next morning, I woke up with my head on Lorraine’s chest. She has quite some fur on her chest, I am not bothered by it, as it made for a great pillow. Then it hit me, Lorraine is much older, huh, oh well.

After putting on some clothes, I went out of the tent, I looked up in the sky, it was still early. I checked on Abby, still sleeping, I hope. Outside, I sat down and leaned backwards on my arms, I wondered what Alice was up to. Hopefully, not brewing up a new plan to kill me.

Lorraine came out of our tent, and she sat down next to me. “We should be reaching Moonhelm, this time, for real.”

I took her hand, “We will find your mom.”

She nodded, “I hope so, and what is our plan after that?”

“We need to find a way to save this reality.”

Lorraine sighed, “Are you planning to take on the void?”

“If that is what is threatening these lands, then yes.”

Lorraine nodded, she stuttered a bit as she started speaking, “It took my homeland, it also killed my father, and my sister.”

I kept looking at Lorraine, there was no emotion in her words, it felt almost like she was feeding me a lie. Her family probably died a horrible death, and she would rather not relive it, yes that must be it. “Oh, I am sorry to hear that, what is your sister’s name?”

Lorraine smiled, “Her name was Valentine.”

“I am sorry Lorraine, if there were any way to bring her back, I would.”

She put her head on my shoulder, “I know, Steve, I know. There are a lot more layers to you than I expected when we first met, I thought you were some fun playboy, despite my special sensor going off, who knew, I actually fell for you, hard, this fast.”

I chuckled, “It amazes me too, I fell for you as well.” This cannot be real, right, this woman falling in love with me? Snap out of it Steve, something good is finally happening to you, just, go with the flow and let her take the lead. When she feels more comfortable, I am sure she will be willing to open up more about what happened to her family.

Lorraine nestled against me, “We are better off together.”

“Yes, I agree, together we can beat the void, Funk and Abby will help too.”

Funk climbed out of his tent. “Another day shines on us.”

I nodded, “That it does.”

Abby seemed to come alive and crawl out of her tent, after screaming loudly, “Oh, my head hurts, scratch that, everything hurts, how long have I been asleep?”

I smiled, glad to see she is fine after all, “Very long, I had to carry you yesterday.”

She blinked a couple of times, “What happened with the mushrooms?”

I looked at Funk, then at Abby, “You emitted so much silver energy, they all died, Lorraine said you got a huge power backlash, which is why you got knocked out.”

Lorraine handed some water to Abby, She greedily took it and gulped it down, “Thanks,” Abby looked around, “Where are we?”

I smiled, “Close to Moonhelm.”

Lorraine nodded, “If we leave, I am guessing it will take at least two hours of traveling before we reach the village.”

Abby nodded, “I am fine with that, thanks for carrying me, and saving me, Steve.”

I smiled at her, “You are welcome.”

Funk nodded, “I am glad you did not get eaten by those mushrooms.”

Abby let out a sigh of relief, “That would be my worst nightmare, death by getting swallowed whole by a mushroom.”

As we started cleaning up camp I wondered, what were those black tentacles, they completely absorbed those mushrooms. Now that I think back, the cave walls had been drained of water, and this strange feeling of mana around me, I guess you can call it, ambient mana. After Abby's outburst, it was, gone. I stared at her for a moment, either she is hiding something, like being another creature, or something is living inside of her that came out to save its host.

Abby tilted her head and smiled at me, “Is something wrong, Steve?”

“Huh? No, nothing at all, let's go to Moonhelm.”